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| My photo: Falcon just killed a Speckled Starling, on our back lawn. Keeping a falcon eye out for potential thieves |
I’m still not 100% sure, Kestrel or Peregrine. Of course, both are falcons.
I thought we’d identified it as a Kestrel on the basis of the “The Birds of Hong Kong”, a winter visitor, October to March, which we’d last seen on the same tree on Christmas eve last year, and thus “our Kestrel” returned. But then, the colour seems too dark, and it’s a bird that it’s killed. Peregerines are darker, Kestrels usually brown. Peregrines kill other birds, Kestrels tend to kill small mammals on the ground. (So Wiki tells me).
If it is a Peregrine falcon, it’s a member of the family which is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of 380 kph in their “stoop”, or steep dive. They have special bone formation in their noses (beaks?) to limit to flow of air to their lungs during dives, to avoid damage to the lungs from the speed of the incoming air. That’s also pretty amazing!
Have been sent a link to webcam in Melbourne, showing the Peregrine falcon there with her chicks. Thanks to Jane! It was that that got me rethinking the identity of “our Kestrel”, as I looked them all up on Wiki. Kestrels and Peregrines both members of that noble family, falcons or “Falconiformes”. They mate for life (👏). Females larger than males. In the wild, nest high on cliffs. Now thriving in cityscapes where they love to nest on the side of tall buildings, as at 367 Collins St.
Imagine stepping off that ledge -- as I just saw mummy Peregrine do -- and not plummeting to the earth, but soaring..., sharp eyes out for a yummy pigeon. Which I’ve just watched her feed to the four chicks. She took ages over it, hungry squeaking fluffy balls.
